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http://jn.nutrition.org/content/131/11/3065S.full (The Mediterranean Diets: What Is So Special about the Diet of Greece? The Scientific Evidence)
The diet of Greece, including Crete, before 1960 contained (n-3) fatty acids in every meal—breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Figs stuffed with walnuts are a favorite snack. Both figs and walnuts contain LNA. Contrast this snack with a chocolate chip cookie that contains trans fatty acids and (n-6) fatty acids from the partially hydrogenated oils used in preparation (41). Although these studies were carried out between 1984 and 1986, further analyses of blood specimens from the Seven Countries Study were published in 1993 by Sandker et al. (42), indicating that the serum cholesteryl esters of the population in Crete had threefold more LNA than did the population of Zutphen (Table 5). Similar data indicated that the Japanese population also had higher concentrations of (n-3) fatty acids than did the population of Zutphen. Here then was the missing link. It was the higher concentrations of (n-3) fatty acids that added protection against cardiovascular disease, not only the olive oil, wine, fruits and vegetables of the “typical” Mediterranean diet.
In the Greek countryside, chickens wander on farms, eat grass, purslane, insects, worms and dried figs, all good sources of (n-3) fatty acids. Table 4shows the composition of the Ampelistra (Greek) egg (39,40). It has a ratio of (n-6) to (n-3) of 1.3 whereas the USDA egg has a ratio of 19.4. As a result, noodles made with milk and eggs in Greece also contain (n-3) fatty acids.
Thus a pattern began to unfold. The diet of Greece, including Crete, before 1960 contained (n-3) fatty acids in every meal—breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Figs stuffed with walnuts are a favorite snack. Both figs and walnuts contain LNA. Contrast this snack with a chocolate chip cookie that contains trans fatty acids and (n-6) fatty acids from the partially hydrogenated oils used in preparation (41). Although these studies were carried out between 1984 and 1986, further analyses of blood specimens from the Seven Countries Study were published in 1993 by Sandker et al. (42), indicating that the serum cholesteryl esters of the population in Crete had threefold more LNA than did the population of Zutphen (Table 5). Similar data indicated that the Japanese population also had higher concentrations of (n-3) fatty acids than did the population of Zutphen. Here then was the missing link. It was the higher concentrations of (n-3) fatty acids that added protection against cardiovascular disease, not only the olive oil, wine, fruits and vegetables of the “typical” Mediterranean diet.
In conclusion, studies on the Paleolithic diet suggest that (n-3) fatty acids were present in practically all foods that humans ate and in equal amounts with (n-6) fatty acids. The depletion of the (n-3) fatty acids in Western diets is the result of agribusiness, modern agriculture and aquaculture. The high ratio of (n-6) to (n-3) fatty acids (16.74:1 instead of 1:1) is the result of excessive production of vegetable oils and the indiscriminate recommendation to substitute saturated fat and butter with oils high in (n-6) fatty acids to lower serum cholesterol levels without taking into consideration their adverse effect on overall human metabolism.
http://ebm.rsmjournals.com/content/233/6/674.full (The Importance of the Omega-6/Omega-3 Fatty Acid Ratio in Cardiovascular Disease and Other Chronic Diseases)
Effects of Greek orthodox christian church fasting on serum lipids and obesity
http://www.stjohndfw.info/Files/Greek-Fasting.pdf
Greek Orthodox fasting rituals: a hidden characteristic of the
Mediterranean diet of Crete
http://uranus.ckt.net/~gochiefs/Eat%20Stop%20Eat.pdf
The diet of Greece, including Crete, before 1960 contained (n-3) fatty acids in every meal—breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Figs stuffed with walnuts are a favorite snack. Both figs and walnuts contain LNA. Contrast this snack with a chocolate chip cookie that contains trans fatty acids and (n-6) fatty acids from the partially hydrogenated oils used in preparation (41). Although these studies were carried out between 1984 and 1986, further analyses of blood specimens from the Seven Countries Study were published in 1993 by Sandker et al. (42), indicating that the serum cholesteryl esters of the population in Crete had threefold more LNA than did the population of Zutphen (Table 5). Similar data indicated that the Japanese population also had higher concentrations of (n-3) fatty acids than did the population of Zutphen. Here then was the missing link. It was the higher concentrations of (n-3) fatty acids that added protection against cardiovascular disease, not only the olive oil, wine, fruits and vegetables of the “typical” Mediterranean diet.
In the Greek countryside, chickens wander on farms, eat grass, purslane, insects, worms and dried figs, all good sources of (n-3) fatty acids. Table 4shows the composition of the Ampelistra (Greek) egg (39,40). It has a ratio of (n-6) to (n-3) of 1.3 whereas the USDA egg has a ratio of 19.4. As a result, noodles made with milk and eggs in Greece also contain (n-3) fatty acids.
Thus a pattern began to unfold. The diet of Greece, including Crete, before 1960 contained (n-3) fatty acids in every meal—breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Figs stuffed with walnuts are a favorite snack. Both figs and walnuts contain LNA. Contrast this snack with a chocolate chip cookie that contains trans fatty acids and (n-6) fatty acids from the partially hydrogenated oils used in preparation (41). Although these studies were carried out between 1984 and 1986, further analyses of blood specimens from the Seven Countries Study were published in 1993 by Sandker et al. (42), indicating that the serum cholesteryl esters of the population in Crete had threefold more LNA than did the population of Zutphen (Table 5). Similar data indicated that the Japanese population also had higher concentrations of (n-3) fatty acids than did the population of Zutphen. Here then was the missing link. It was the higher concentrations of (n-3) fatty acids that added protection against cardiovascular disease, not only the olive oil, wine, fruits and vegetables of the “typical” Mediterranean diet.
In conclusion, studies on the Paleolithic diet suggest that (n-3) fatty acids were present in practically all foods that humans ate and in equal amounts with (n-6) fatty acids. The depletion of the (n-3) fatty acids in Western diets is the result of agribusiness, modern agriculture and aquaculture. The high ratio of (n-6) to (n-3) fatty acids (16.74:1 instead of 1:1) is the result of excessive production of vegetable oils and the indiscriminate recommendation to substitute saturated fat and butter with oils high in (n-6) fatty acids to lower serum cholesterol levels without taking into consideration their adverse effect on overall human metabolism.
http://ebm.rsmjournals.com/content/233/6/674.full (The Importance of the Omega-6/Omega-3 Fatty Acid Ratio in Cardiovascular Disease and Other Chronic Diseases)
Effects of Greek orthodox christian church fasting on serum lipids and obesity
http://www.stjohndfw.info/Files/Greek-Fasting.pdf
Greek Orthodox fasting rituals: a hidden characteristic of the
Mediterranean diet of Crete
http://uranus.ckt.net/~gochiefs/Eat%20Stop%20Eat.pdf
